Yosuke has slightly unkempt fawn colored dyed hair and brown eyes. At both his school and inside the Midnight Channel, he wears his Yasogami High school uniform, along with a white V-neck T-shirt with long sleeves and a pair of red headphones (save for two occasions, he is never seen without them). Inside the Midnight Channel, Yosuke also wears orange glasses.

In summer, Yosuke wears his school summer uniform, along with another V-neck T-shirt with short sleeves. On weekends, he wears a white jacket with an orange V-neck shirt, dark green pants and brown combat boots. During weekends in the summer, he wears a white V-neck T-shirt with red motifs on the front, red cargo pants and brown shoes.

During the Crossdressing School Festival, part of his hair is pulled into a loose pigtail, and he wears a female school uniform with a light-yellow sweater vest, a loose red ribbon, a red checkered mini skirt, black stockings and brown loafers.

In Persona 4 Golden, Yosuke gains a few new outfits. In winter, he wears a snow suit with white hoodie, orange goggles around his neck with a light blue scarf, a white pullover with a red snow jacket, black gloves, green camouflage pants and yellow shoes. During colder winter days at school, he wears a sky blue pullover jacket underneath his school uniform. During the new epilogue, he has a different hair style and wears hot pink T-shirt with thin white stripes and aqua jean pants.

In Persona 4: The Animation, Yosuke's swimming trunks are orange and have a floral pattern on them, and he is revealed to own a Yasogami High basketball uniform, which he wears during Kou Ichijo's last game. Additionally, his crossdressing outfit now has white socks instead of black.

In Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Yosuke is shown wearing his Yasogami High School uniform, except the sleeves are rolled up with an orange shirt with white writing saying FEVER vertically. He also wears a yellow scarf around his neck, a pair of fingerless orange gloves and orange sneakers.

"I want to tell Saki-senpai something. That what's important... isn't where you are. This town I hated so much? Now, I love it. There's still nothing here, but I have family and friends... and you. The important things are never far off... They're all around you."

—Yosuke Hanamura, Persona 4

Yosuke taking extra precautions.

Yosuke is a clumsy transfer-student who arrived six months before the protagonist. He is often the target for jokes about his lack of muscles and body strength, and fights with blunt, double-handed objects such as wrenches, but moreso knives and kunai. The protagonist first sees him crashing his bike into a garbage can, the first of many times, but he doesn't introduce himself to the protagonist until he helps Yosuke by getting him out of a garbage can.

He cares deeply about Saki Konishi and fell into depression after her death. Much of his character development stems from his feelings for Saki, and dealing with the hurtful possibility that Saki probably never felt the same way about him that he did for her.

Yosuke doesn't usually think before he says something, which results in him sticking his foot in his mouth, and unintentionally insulting someone, including Kanji Tatsumi about his sexual orientation.

He tends to be a bit of a wannabe ladies' man and has a fascination for girls, forcing the girls to enter a beauty pageant they can't back out of. But beneath most of that (more so in the original game), he shows great insight with decent deducing, and is often on task of the situation on hand, and can be very serious at times. He also tends to keep a good face in order to make sure the team is in their best spirits and he cares a lot about the protagonist, as well as having a strong sense of justice. He's good with people's emotions, offering assistance at Junes. Despite his tendency to be a bit of a pushover, he has a strong vision of the future and displays uncanny deductive reasoning. A notable gag is that Yosuke seems to be at odds with Chie Satonaka several times.

His biggest insecurities are boredom and loneliness. He feels the town has nothing comparing to the city and that his life in the city is the reason for his unpopularity. By the end of the game he has grown to love the town and has made friends with the rest of the Investigation Team and feels accomplished in having a notable contribution to the group.

Along with that, he is described by the other members of the Investigation Team as too nice, even from his own words. This is evident in Persona Q (Persona 4 route in one of the strolls) and by himself in the Persona 4: Dancing All Night storyline (in the pre-story chapter, after Rise is doing her entry). Regardless, his skills in deduction and reasoning place him as the second-in-command of the Investigation Team, as it is hinted that he often discusses things with Yu the most times regarding the team's final decisions.

Yosuke makes his first appearance during the protagonist's first day at school, where he comically crashes his bicycle. He is later shown to be apologizing to Chie Satonaka, due to the fact that he broke the DVD "Trial of the Dragon." which he borrowed from Chie. Enraged, Chie kicks Yosuke in the crotch, and demands that he buy her a new one. The protagonist befriends Yosuke the next day, where he helps Yosuke after having his head stuck in a trash can after crashing his bicycle. Later, to express his gratitude, Yosuke invites the protagonist to Yasoinaba's delicacy store. However, Yosuke later scraps his plans after Chie hears his proposal, and takes them to Junes' Food Court instead.

Chie later tells the protagonist and Yosuke about the urban legend of the Midnight Channel, and asks them to try it out. Their conversation is interrupted when Yosuke sees his senior, Saki Konishi taking a break. Seeing her looking frustrated and tired, Yosuke becomes worried and talks to Saki. In their conversation it is revealed that Yosuke, like the protagonist, came from a city, and his father is a manager of Junes. Yosuke later tries to tell Saki something, however Saki simply brushes him off and tells him that her break-time was almost over. Chie takes note of Yosuke's disappointment and teases him, asking if he is falling in love with Saki.

Yosuke getting nervous seeing the protagonist entering the TV.

Later that night, Yosuke tries to tune in to the Midnight Channel, and sees a blurred image of a female student in his TV. Expressing his bemusement that day, Yosuke, Chie and the protagonist became intrigued due to seeing the same person in the Midnight Channel. Chie later asks Yosuke about the prices of a TV, since her family was planning to buy one. The trio later goes to Junes, where the protagonist tries to enter to the other side of the TV, this time using a TV large enough to enter. The protagonist becomes stuck halfway, and upon witnessing the protagonist's actions, Yosuke and Chie panic and accidentally push themselves along with the protagonist into the other side of the TV, the Midnight Channel.

Inside the Midnight Channel, the trio are shocked to see their surroundings and panic. They anxiously try to return via searching the entrance they fell earlier, but failing to do so, they decide to check around the area. Eventually, they encounter a bear like cartoon character, who urges them to leave this place. The trio confess their inability to do so, and losing his patience, the bear, like cartoon character, summons three TVs and pushes them in, forcefully ejecting the trio out of the Midnight Channel. The next day, Saki Konishi was reported missing, and subsequently dead.

Devastated, Yosuke swears to investigate the Midnight Channel, as the female student they witnessed earlier in the Midnight Channel was in fact Saki Konishi. Yosuke requests the protagonist to help him, since he is the only one who is able to enter the TV. Eventually the protagonist and Yosuke enter the Midnight Channel one more time, leaving Chie behind. Inside the Midnight Channel, the protagonist and Yosuke once again encounter the cartoon-like character, who introduces himself as Teddie. Infuriated by their presence, Teddie angrily asks them whether are they responsible for "throwing people" inside the Midnight Channel. Yosuke angrily stammers back, telling Teddie that he is the suspicious one. Upon learning that the protagonist and Yosuke aren't responsible, Teddie promises to help, and gives them a pair of glasses which allow them to see the fog ridden Midnight Channel clearly.

Eventually the protagonist and Yosuke venture to an area resembling Yasoinaba's shopping street. Intrigued, the protagonist and Yosuke try to enter Saki's family liquor store and begin to hear the voice of Saki Konishi echoing them. In there, Saki's voice reveals that she is tired of her life: her family liquor store's sales are falling because of the opening of Junes, and her part-time job in Junes has caused her father to detest her. Saki also reveals that she hated Yosuke, and never thought of him as a friend, but an annoying, irritating person; she was being friendly to Yosuke only because he is the son of the manager of Junes. Whether these were Saki's true feelings or fears born from Yosuke's feelings is debatable.

Hearing Saki's words, Yosuke is devastated, and tries to convince himself that everything he heard was a lie. Another "Yosuke" appears, and openly mocks Yosuke. Shocked, Yosuke tries to answer back, but the other Yosuke proceeds to taunt Yosuke by saying that in reality, he is just afraid of being alone and his cheerful facade was nothing more than just a sign of escapism. The other Yosuke then mentions that Yosuke never sees anyone as a friend, including Saki, but only as things to help him to feel secure and exclaims that he knows it because he is Yosuke. Not wanting to accept these words, Yosuke angrily exclaims that the other Yosuke is not him.

Laughing at Yosuke's declination of his true feelings, the other Yosuke transforms to attack them, with Yosuke passing out. The protagonist defeats the Shadow, with Yosuke regaining consciousness but still reluctant to face himself. Under the encouragement of Teddie and the protagonist, Yosuke painfully admits that he does feel that way, but it is always hard to face one's true feelings. Sensing Yosuke's resolution, the Shadow transform into Jiraiya, and becomes Yosuke's Persona. Later, when the protagonist and Yosuke return to the real world, they are lectured by a worried and angry Chie, who promptly leaves after scolding them. Yosuke later thanks the protagonist, telling him that he'll definitely have a good night's sleep tonight.

The next day, Yosuke tells the protagonist that they must stop the murder incidents and investigate the culprit behind the Midnight Channel, allowing the protagonist to forge the Magician Arcana with Yosuke.

Yosuke wanting Namatame to die.

He pressures the protagonist to get revenge on Taro Namatame, which may lead the player to murder Namatame when it turns out (if the player acknowledges that there's still gaps of truth missing) that Namatame is more innocent then originally expected. Yosuke's motivations for this are revenge for believing Namatame killed Saki Konishi and Nanako Dojima, and since Namatame may not be convicted, he may continue "murdering" people, and they only have one chance to do this. Only by telling Yosuke to "Calm the hell down!" may the player receive the Normal or True ending.

"If you start bleeding, put that on. Y'know... We should fight more often. Phew... The sky's so high up. Is Saki-senpai watching us...? Is she smiling at us? Senpai... I'm going to live. Without lying to myself, without deceiving myself... Days like today, days like before when I did nothing... They're all important days... They're all days you didn't live to see... I'm going to live them here."

—Yosuke Hanamura before awakening his ultimate Persona

The protagonist hugs a crying Yosuke, who is mourning the death of Saki Konishi.

Should the protagonist manage to level up the Magician Arcana Social Link to Lv.8, Yosuke reveals that when he first moved to Yasoinaba, he was resentful towards the town because he feared that the opening of Junes would make the people in the Shop District hate him. Despite this, however, Yosuke began to open up when Saki Konishi told him that "parents are parents, you're you." Yosuke later exclaims that even after he knew the friendly Saki was a facade, he still loves her, and is sad to see her die. He goes as far as to say he really did not mind whether Saki liked him or not; he just wanted to make her smile. Yosuke also expresses his resentment of living in a small country town with little to do, as well as his wish to do something interesting like play hero.

Yosuke and the protagonist after exchanging blow against each other.

By the end of the Magician Arcana Social Link, Yosuke expresses that deep down inside, he didn't trust the protagonist fully, and is jealous of his talents in combat and being a leader of the Investigation Team. Confessing his inner thoughts, Yosuke then requests the protagonist to punch him, so they could get even for Yosuke's jealousy. The protagonist eventually brawls with Yosuke, with their fight ending with a tie. Yosuke then exclaims that he'll live with his true self from now onwards, and hold precious the days he spends with others. Eventually having a change in his psyche and resolution, Yosuke's Persona Jiraiya transfigures into Susano-o. Noticing his newfound powers, Yosuke exclaims that he will use the power to protect the others, and thanks the protagonist.

Should the protagonist reach Lv 3 of the Magician Arcana Social Link, Yosuke will learn his distinctive follow-up attack, Yosuke Strike, where he performs a powerful combo with 100% critical rate on another enemy, downed or otherwise, provided the protagonist has struck down a target.

In Persona 4 Golden, the addition of bikes for the Investigation Team introduced a unique new way of obtaining skills for party members. By going on special forms of dates with each party member, involving the use of the bikes, the player is given the option of either having the party member in question learn a brand-new skill, or relearn any old skill that they have forgotten. The bike skills available to Yosuke are listed below.

Yosuke can also perform a fusion spell with Teddie called "Junes Bomber" when the following requirements are achieved: Yosuke and Teddie are both in the active party, and an "All-Out Attack" is performed, but the enemy still remains. When performing "Junes Bomber," Yosuke and Teddie will run up to each other and perform minor stunts. Shortly after, they will both disappear, leaving behind a giant Teddie-looking bomb and several ninja tools. The bomb will explode shortly after, creating a gust of wind that clears away the ninja tools and damages the enemy.

Like all the members of the Investigation Team, Yosuke can access a third Persona and its special skill. The requirement for his Persona to transform is having his Social Link on rank 10 during the winter, if the player completes the criteria for at least the good ending. His 3rd tier Persona is Takehaya Susano-o, and its special skill is Youthful Wind, a healing spell that increases hit/evasion rate of the entire team.

Additionally, like with Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4, each party member is able to learn new skills upon the player's progression of their Social Link. The social link skills that Yosuke learns upon development of his Social Link are also listed below.

In Persona 4 The Animation, Yosuke's role remains the similar to his role in the games. At Kou's basketball game, it is revealed that he isn't very good at it.

When Yu is trapped by Shadow Mitsuo, it is Yosuke that brings him out of his near stupor by calling his name and pulling him out of the shadow. The event helps bring the two closer together, as they afterwards refer to each other by their first names rather than their last, something that doesn't go unnoticed by the other characters.

During Nanako Dojima's hospitalization, Yu eventually makes the decision to move on and find the truth, for everyone's sake. The group leaves for home, while Yu simply stares at the sky, wondering about whether he did the right thing. He hears footsteps and is surprised to see Yosuke. The latter walks up to his side and merely offers him a shoulder as Yu Narukami finally breaks down in tears, crying Nanako's name and wondering if he did the right thing by not pushing Namatame into the Midnight Channel.

Later on, upon discovering Tohru Adachi's true involvement in the murders of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, he follows the Investigation Team into the Midnight Channel, where they eventually stumble onto a twisted version of Yasoinaba, Magatsu Inaba. The team finds an image of Adachi in the first room that Yu, Chie and Yosuke landed in when they first entered the Midnight Channel. Adachi confesses to his role in the murders. Yosuke's emotions fluctuate between absolute hatred and horror, calling him out on his treatment of women and his views in life. When they chase after Adachi, they eventually stumble upon The Reaper, and Yosuke teams up with Teddie to buy Yu some time in finding the real Adachi in the area. After Adachi being defeated, Ameno-sagiri appears, deals heavy damage to the team and starts absorbing Yu. As Yosuke understands what is happening, his Persona Jiraiya transfigures into Susano-o that goes and extract Yu from it and severely hurts Ameno-sagiri with the help of the other ultimate Personas of the Investigation Team before Yu gives the final strike with Lucifer.

Later on, Yosuke is seen saying goodbye to Yu, who has to return to his hometown. He also appears in the True Ending.

During the events of Persona 4 Arena, Yosuke is now a third-year student at Yasogami High School and he begins to hear rumors that the Midnight Channel is back. When he decides to investigate, he meets a mysterious girl. As he keeps defeating his friends each round, Yosuke hears them say that the reason the Grand Prix was set up because of him and his feelings of despair and uselessness about going back to a normal life. After discovering that General Teddie from the monitor is a fake, he thought that might be his shadow dressing up like Teddie. Before heading to the announcement room, Yosuke manages to impress Labrys and even agrees to go on a date with him (much to Teddie's surprise). As Yosuke and Labrys arrive at the announcement room, he sees his shadow and just as he is about to deny it once more, his friends help him resolve his problems. But soon it becomes clear that it was not Yosuke's shadow as he used his Persona in the fight, soon General Teddie goes after Labrys and it's revealed that General Teddie was actually Shadow Labrys. She reveals Labrys' true nature as an android as another android, Aigis, appears.

Yosuke, clearly shocked by these events, chases after everyone as he gets trapped with Aigis on the roof because of the Grand Prix rules. After hearing about the true nature of Labrys and about the incident at Port Island, he resolves to go to Labrys' side and defeats Aigis. Using Aigis' words, he defeats Shadow Labrys as he helps Labrys accept herself allowing her to gain a Persona. When they are about to leave, Labrys is hijacked though Yosuke is able to hold her off. After the new enemy reveals himself, Mitsuru Kirijo suggests that they leave it to them. Yu relents as Yosuke catches on and helps to lead everyone back to the real world. After saying their goodbyes to Labrys, Yosuke and the others finally get a chance to celebrate Yu's return and announces that the Investigation Team is back in action.

In battle, Yosuke is the fastest character in the game and performs incredibly acrobatic attacks. He has several ways he can execute his block strings and has several mix up options (from tick throwing to feints) but both his health and damage output are typically low although in initial builds of the game, he had high health. His Awakening super, Sukukaja, greatly boosts his movement to being able to dash cancel many of his attacks, allows him to move very quickly to the point of teleporting, and being able to use his Moonsault during auto combo.

His original moves are the Moonsault (leaps forward in a spiraling jump), Crescent Slash (Mikazuki Giri/Three-Day Moon Slash in JPN where he slashes upward during Moonsault), Flying Kunai (Tobi Kunai in JPN, Yosuke throws a storm kunai downward in midair), and Mirage Slash (Hengenjisou Giri/Transforming Phase Slash in JPN, here Yosuke in midair has Jiraiya appear in front of his place, covering his instant teleporting low-hitting slide slash to the ground; the Skill Boost version only teleports to the ground). He retains his Tentarafoo as a special, his Garudyne and the aforementioned Sukukaja as his SP Skills, and with his Brave Blade (Brave Zapper in JPN) being his Mortal Blow/Instant Kill. His Reversal Action involves him provoking the foe in a reversal/counter stance, and making them pratfall should they hit him allowing him to reset the situation.

Yosuke appears as the main protagonist of the manga. Like in the game, he, Yu, Chie, and Yukiko hear about the return of the Midnight Channel along with the mysterious dissappearences of Teddie, Kanji, and Rise. When they go investigate, Yosuke finds himself seperated from the rest of the group in a fake version of his school inside the TV world, and forced to participate in a Grand Prix along with meeting a mysterious girl who claims to be the student council president. After defeating Chie, Yukiko, and Yu, Yosuke finds out that the mysterious girl is named Labrys, an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, and that the fake school and the Arena are actually Labrys' dungeon. Alongside Aigis, Yosuke defeats Shadow Labrys before Rise and Fuuka free Labrys of the Malevolent Entity's control. After leaving the TV world with everybody, Mitsuru Kirijo suggests that the Invesitgation Team leaves handling the new enemy to them. Yosuke and most of the investigation team initially protest, but are convinced by Yu to relent. After Labrys says goodbye to him, Yosuke and the rest of the investigation team get ready to celebrate Yu's return and announces that the Investigation Team is back in action.

Yosuke Hanamura's headphones resemble the Audio Technica ATH-FC700A or the Audio Technica ATH-ES10. On the Volume 2 cover of Persona 4: The Animation, his headphones on the artwork are called the Music Technica ATH-EF11.

During the Persona Stalker Club program, it was revealed that Yosuke, while in combat, listens to western music and film soundtracks.

The word "Atlus" is printed on Yosuke's bike.

In the game when Yosuke went inside Saki's Twisted Shopping District, he sees cut up photos of him and Saki working at Junes, but in the anime he sees cut up movie tickets he gave to her.

As part of Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Golden promotions, Yosuke is used as his seiyuu's avatar for the BlazBlue radio show "Bururaji" chatting along with the seiyuus of BlazBlue characters Ragna the Bloodedge (Tomokazu Sugita), Noel Vermillion (Kanako Kondou) and Tsubaki Yayoi (Asami Imai). His "opening act" is similar to his first appearance in the original Persona 4 where he crashes into a trash can while riding his bicycle although this time, instead of trash can he crashes into Ragna.

The way Yosuke performs Garudyne in Persona 4 Arena resembles his Follow-Up Attack (Yosuke Strike in ENG or Yousuke no Kougeki/Yousuke's Attack in JPN) from Persona 4.

His new Shunten Hisougiri (Blink Turning Soaring Cutter) move in Persona 4 The Ultimax resembles the V-Slasher of Leona Heidern from the King of Fighters. It is even blantanly localized as "V-Slash" in the English versions.

When Yosuke equips the Yellow Featherman outfit in Persona 4 Golden he says "Hey, I'm in yellow!? I'm not the fat one! Am I...?" The line alludes to the Persona 2 duology where Eikichi Mishina used the Yellow Featherman mask when he was an overweight kid. It also alludes to the character Raita Oishi, Yellow Owl from Chojin Sentai Jetman, the Super Sentai series Featherman is a parody of.

This creates a continuity error with Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth's "SOS: Save Our Stomachs!" request, where Yosuke is able to eat a hot pot made with tofu without comment or ill effects.

Yosuke mentions several times throughout the game that he is disgusted by fish - not only the idea of eating fish, but the idea of fish in general. Ironically, Yosuke can use a weapon called "Inaba Trout," which can be obtained from a quest.

In the weeks that Nanako appears on the Midnight Channel, if the player decides to go to the Void Quest dungeon and talk to Yosuke at the entrance, he will say after his primary lines: "Our princess is in another castle, dude," referring to the Mario Bros. games by Nintendo.

Yosuke has a nurse fetish.

If you equip the Cleaning Uniform you receive from Sayoko Uehara in Persona 4 Golden and talk to Yosuke while in a dungeon, he'll remark on how you're lucky to work with nurses, and in Persona 4 Arena, if you play Yu's route, Teddie will ask you to get Yosuke a new nurse porn magazine, as his old one was burned.

Teddie teases him on this again in Persona Q: Upon reaching the nurse's office for the first time, Teddie will call out for a nurse. When he doesn't get a response he tells Yosuke not to be sad, yet Yosuke responds by telling Teddie that he didn't say anything.

In Persona 4 Arena, Yosuke has a poster that parodies AKB48. He also has CD albums resembling Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight, Nickelback's All the Right Reasons, and the Grammy Nominees 2008 album.

On the ski trip in Persona 4 Golden, Yosuke tells a ghost story about how his friend's sister and her group of friends bullied another student. As Yosuke continues, he states that his friend's sister would lock herself up in her room, mumbling to herself, "I'm next." Worried, his friend tried asking her friends about it only to find out that they had all passed out and were in the hospital. That night, she bursts out of her room and didn't turn up until next morning where she was found unconscious outside of the school gates. This story was actually a loose retelling of the events that happened with Fuuka Yamagishi in Persona 3, with some false details being added, such as how the girl "died." Naoto mentions that she read a police report that sounded similar as well.

During his introduction in the P3 side of Persona Q, Yosuke is referred to as "Boy with Dyed Hair." In Persona 4 Design Works Soejima confirmed that he and Chie dye their hair.

Because of his obvious interest in music, all three of Yosuke's Personas have a disco motif. It is to the point that his ultimate Persona, Takehaya Susano-o has a popular hairstyle called the afro.

Dummied content from Persona 4 reveals that Yosuke was apparently going to be a potential romantic partner for the protagonist. This is most evident in unused Japanese dialogue.